This is my first guide so please try to just post constructive criticism and if you have any opinions on build choices etc. be my guest to tell me and I will look into it.

In the last game on the top i had massive lag until i finally dced out from the game : /
I've spent the last three days in intensively testing out Brand. At this early stage it's hard to decide whether he's op or not but in my honest opinion he is very powerful at early game and still keeps up in mid / lategame. Also his range is abit too big. Despite all this he is hella lot fun to play. The playstyle is like a combination of Annie and lux where the order of your spellcasts can mean everything in the outcome of a battle.

Changelog: Added colours, Added tips and optional runes to the rune section.

For runes i use:
9x the Magic pen is just awesome for your damage output
9x The extra little ap needed for a firstblood that also will help you later in the game since they improve.
9x Let's you harrass even more and you may stay in lane longer. You can also stay longer in teamfights.
3x Three words... Early. Game. Domination.

There are many options for rune usage on brand but these are the ones that i find the most useful.
Other runes to consider are:

for more survival if you feel too squishy or for even more harrasement possibilities and if you don't like to use clarity.
Greater Seal of Vitality easier to survive ganks and you will love these those times that you get away with 20 hp or so, or random generated number (RNG) based survival rune, can be worth less than **** if it doesn't procc but can also save you from a 1k trynda crit.
Helps alot early game especially if you get ganked alot.
More mobility for chasing / ganking / escaping.

In my opinion Is a really good mastery wich is why i mostly go for that one after speccing full in utility. If you feel like you are too squishy though you may consider going atleast 6 into defense for and , these help alot earlygame. There are also viable mastery builds where you would go full in defense but i haven't tested these out yet, i guess you would need alot more manareg runes or manareg in your build for that to work. Else it's pretty straight forward with the usual 9/0/21 build where you pick or depending on which summoners you use.

Incoming wall of text but i really recommend you to read this. thx.

I'm putting this first so you wont miss it since you'll probably skip the rest of this text, remember to buy throughout the game, these are a great situtational boost for the money that they cost, remember to not pop it until you are going to initiate in a fight. Elixir of Fortitue is also a good buy, this can be used as a bait (almost heals as much as renek ult) or it can save your life in close ignite momoents etc.

I've been testing around some with starting items, usually works fine but if you feel like you usually die early game you should consider or + 3x . On first recall I usually buy a second Doran's Ring, this will heavily improve your early game in my opinion but if you feel like you have alot of money or that you don't need it, so the second Doran's Ring is totally optional. Then Kage's Lucky pick first to maximize the gold income from it even if it's not much and after that i feel the need for for improved damage and more chasing / escaping utility. After this it's pretty much forward, I take because of it's awesome extra burst that you can add into your rotation, also the + mp5 and Cooldown Reduction on it is powerful throughout the whole game (Morello's may also be a good choice here, check out the next section). At this point you probably have enough nuke wich is why i'm getting a for extra survival as the first component of my . Then the wich heavily increases your damage output. After Rabadon's i usually build a defense item depending on what team i face (armor / hp / magic resist), is good in most cases. If you feel like you don't need a defense item then is a great item that gives you more nuke but still a extra bit of survivability.
As last item you can choose depending on how the game have went, if you have problems with people that gear magic resist, then go for . If you die to malzahar ult then pick (this can also be picked earlier since it's kinda cheap if you have problems with Malzahar early on. If you have problems with physical carries then build a armor or health heavy item, and if you don't feel like you have enough nuke but they aren't gearing magic resist then build optional nuke item.

You may also ask, "where is the ?" Yes i do SOMETIMES build this item, however it is very unreliable and i don't build it unless i feel like their setup will allow me to get alot of kills and get away with it.


NOTE: All these items are situational, for a successful champion build, you should always base your buys on how the game outcome is and what the enemy team setup is.

Important to notice is that this guide is made for countering the enemies carries I.E blowing em up in miliseconds. This is the reason for why i'm picking wich is better for picking off one single guy. However, if you want to do more AoE damage and maybe be more essential in teamfights then is the true choise as the little extra cdr will make a good damage increase since Brand has so many AoE spells.

Thank you to Jebus McAzn for making me look into this, go read his forum thread about Morello vs DFG.

Now, the reason of my skill sequence. I see alot and alot of Brands who choose to skill up their first. Sure this skill is great and looks good on paper, i mean less cooldown, more damage and still no increased mana per skillup, Awesome! But the mainreason why i don't skillup this spell is that it's a really unreliable nuke. Enemies can use creep waves or just move around abit to dodge it. I only take 1 rank of at lvl 3 because of the stun portion of it which doesn't change per skillup. Now the positive sides of leveling and is that you have:

[*] Awesome Creep farming! (remember that 20 creep kills is about the same gold income as 1 normal champion kill)
[*] A pretty reliable damage output that enemy champions can't dodge behind minion waves.
Awesome ranged harrasement and pushing.
[*] Leveling up Pillar of flame first also does redicilous amounts of damag.

For summoners i use:
and .
I like these summoners because they allow me to play aggressive and ignite is a really good damage and finisher ability + it's another fire spell to your arsenal! How cool aint that?!! xD Also Flash can be used both aggressively or defensively which is great.

Other summoners to consider are:
If you feel like you don't have enough mana regen then this summoner let's you harrass endlessly.
This is a good tool for your whole team and this may be a good pick if noone else has it already.
I think that this spell is very underestimated and even though it only heals you, it can be used both offensively and defensively. Heal can be used to bait people to go you because you are low, then you pop heal + possible and SHAZAAM you are smacking their faces in a spellcomp.
I'm not a big fan of teleport but it can be useful for pushing / defending towers and in some cases for ganks.
Another escape tool if you feel squishy.
Good tool if you have problems landing your spellcombo on your enemies. Slow enemies are easier to hit + Exhaust is good for escaping aswell. Can also severely cripple their main carry in teamfights.
This spell is decent, you can chase down enemies that are trying to run from all the freaking fire that's everywhere + it can save your life. Personally i don't like this one though because enemies usually jump you in some way and if you don't get out of there fast enough (flash) then you may die.

Pros:

[*] Great farmer.
[*] Good damage / burst output, can completely AoE destroy teams in teamfights.
[*] Good mid or sololane.
[*] Stun.
[*] Massive range and harrassement damage.[/list]

Cons:
[*] Squishy.
[*] Probably some nerfs incoming(?!?!?).
[*] No escape tools except for a single person stun which is just adding to the squishyness.
[*] Needs to be well positioned.
[*] Need to land his spells in a specific order for maximum kill output and 2 of these spells are also "skillshots".

Farming is pretty important, 20 creepkills is about as much as 1 champion kill whitout kill streak bonus, so it's essential that you know how to creepfarm if you want to get ahead in itemizing. For farming i do either + this does first put your passive + massive damage on all of the enemies and then since you have your passive up on a target, your will explode, finishing off the rest of the minions. For cannon-creeps i do on the Cannon-Creep, then i do , since you have the passive on the cannon creep, it will explode and spread your passive to all nearby minions aswell, then you do since they all have passive your Pillar of Flame will do 25% extra damage. This may also be good if you don't have enough damage to kill creepwaves with the first option that i suggested.

The most important part of brand is comboing your spells depending on what situation you are in. If you want to pick off their carry then + + + + + will blow them into oblivion EVEN if you miss a spell or 2. I mean, this spellcombination to one poor guy is like firing a nuclear missile on his balls!

So all in all, Brand is a really fun champion for both new players and veteran players. You can crush with him even though you're not that good but you may crush even more if you are an experienced player. So to conclude, if you like to decimate players and land skillshots + you are abit pyromaniac and like to set houses, forests, HOSPITALS, SCHOOLS AND BANKS ON FIRE MOAHAHAHWRHARHAW.... ehhrm, set champions on fire, then Brand is the champion for you!